QUEENS Park Rangers have shipped out one aggressive ‘philosopher’ and replaced him with another.

Joey Barton has gone on loan to Marseille but in his place has come Esteban Granero from Real Madrid.

Barton mixed posting Oscar Wilde quotes on Twitter with a snarling presence on the pitch, infamously characterised by his meltdown on the final day of last season when he received a 12-game ban for attacking three Manchester City players.

Granero, who spends his afternoons reading Kafka and Camus and is studying for a degree in psychology, has promised he will bring his own brand of aggression to the Premier League.

At 25 and desperate to further his football education, Granero has swapped the Bernabeu for Loftus Road after signing a four-year contract in a £9million move last month.

I am an aggressive player and I will mix very good with this type of football

Esteban Granero

His first game was a 3-1 defeat against Manchester City, where he felt he played reasonably well. The pace and power of the English game does not faze him.

“I am an aggressive player and I will mix very good with this type of football,” he said. “ I am very aggressive – but in a good way.

“The Premier League has always impressed me and Ilike this kind of football a lot; the strength, the way they play I really like.

“How I have been received at QPR has been great. London is a very multi-cultural city and the people are very respectful.

“The first 20 minutes against City was not the best. We showed them too much respect. After that we matched them and played better. I’m very fit and feel good. I like the rhythm of the Premier League and I like to play this way.”

Granero was nicknamed the pirate at Madrid thanks to his dark curly hair and beard combo. An ability to rob opponents of the ball did that reputation no harm.

But Real manager Jose Mourinho has brought in Luka Modric and Michael Essien and so Granero saw his chances shrinking.

A chat with his team-mate Xabi Alonso convinced him to make the move to the Premier League.

“Real was my club since I was eight, so of course it’s a big change,” he said. “But it was not that traumatic for me to leave. What is waiting for me is this team and I am so excited about becoming an important player here.”

This Saturday against Chelsea he faces his old friend Juan Mata, whom he knows from his days at Real’s academy.

Asked if he would have had a better chance if he had grown up at Barcelona, Granero smiled and said: “My mind can’t draw this painting – I simply cannot imagine that.”